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13ft rods ,love them or hate them ?

Adam Wylie

Adam Wylie

Senior Member & Supporter
what's the feeling on using 13ft rods for Barbel fishing ?
I much prefer 12 ft rods ,although I have had some 13 ft feeder rods before.
Free spirit, korum,Harrison ,for example seem to be producing more rods at 13 ft for Barbel fishing these days🤔
 
I think if I was having a custom rod built for barbelling on big tidal rivers then I'd look at a 13ft rod. The Chimera 4 blank would my first port of call. Over kill on smaller rivers and low flow obviously.
 
13 ft better for long casting on a river in my opinion. Easier to be accurate. You still need some stiffness in the butt section though.

Most of my fishing on the Trent is short chuck to middle of the river so I mainly use 12 ft.
 
13ft 2 piece rods I dislike, I find them too cumbersome in the car, getting to my swim and when moving swims etc. 13ft 3 piece are better I have found. Currently using 14 foot 2 Tricast Trilogy extreme range feeder rods for my big casting bream & tench fishing. I will be trying them on running water for Barbel soon.
 
I have a Drennan 13ft distance feeder rod which I love…use it on the Severn with big maggot feeders, it just feels right. However, when it comes to smaller rivers I do prefer an 11ft…a Peregrine GTI, and again it just feels right. I think it’s one of those personal preference situations, if something feels right and works for you you’ll get more pleasure from it.
 
Alan Palmer said:
I have a Drennan 13ft distance feeder rod which I love…use it on the Severn with big maggot feeders, it just feels right. However, when it comes to smaller rivers I do prefer an 11ft…a Peregrine GTI, and again it just feels right. I think it’s one of those personal preference situations, if something feels right and works for you you’ll get more pleasure from it.
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I use an 11' GTI 1.75 and a 11' SU Avon for smaller rivers (1.8lb tc I think) and both ideal. The GTI in particular is lovely rod for barbel, handles big fish with aplomb.
 
Off on a slight tangent, and back to my match fishing days, one of the best Bream rods around was a Daiwa Amorphous Whisker 11/13 stillwater feeder rod. I've got two of them, but I've never used them at 11'

A 13' Barbel rod for me would feel too long. Horse for courses.
 
Big river, I cant use anything less Than a 13, Small rivers most use a 12, maybe 90% of anglers. You can't knock it until you have the experience of using at least a 13.
 
Ditto , the 13ft gives a bit more confidence esp the rocky margins of the tidal , sometimes a 11ft on a small river mainly 12ft if the bankside jungle a'int to bad .
 
I don't generally fish anything bigger than medium-sized rivers, so an 11' rod is my tool of choice. Can understand the advantages of a 13 footer for, say, the tidal Trent if the fish are on the other bank. Never tried that, nor do I expect to.
 
The difference between a 13 and 12 realistically for casting on "our" rivers is negligible. I don't think there's a river in the country I couldn't cast across with a 12ft 2 1/4lb rod.

Increase the rod length by 1ft and all you're doing is giving a fish a mechanical advantage on leverage and making playing big fish harder work for yourself.

Just my thoughts....
 
I dont have a 13 ft rod, but when I use Carbon for fishing a very rocky shallow river where the fish are on the deeper far bank, which is a good distance away, my 12 ft rods just about do the job of keeping the line above the snaggy rocky river bed which extends the full way across.
A bit more height / rod length to keep the line as much as possible above and away from any potential snags would be a good thing , I think a 13 ft rod would be perfect, however, as I dont fish that particular stretch as much as I used to, so shelling out for a suitable rod would just be a waste of money especially as I have been managing admirably with stiff 12 footers for so many years. If I did go down the long rod route, it would have to have a very stiff action with a sensitive tip capable of getting a good fishes head up and away from the potential line traps without bending and allowing the fish to get its head down.A through or soft action 13 footer would put me at a definite disadvantage.

Dave
 
Adam Wylie said:
Hi Bob,
I believe your right !
But is there any advantage at all when using a 13 ft rod ?
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The main advantage is with a longer rod the angle at which your line enters the water is steeper and slightly further across the river. (With all other things remaining equal) so less volume of water applying pressure to your line which is especially useful in heavy water conditions.
if things are proper pushing through and you’ve got 8oz upstream with a 20ft bow in the line to keep the lead from being dragged out of position, that extra foot relieving that extra bit of pressure off the line can be a god send.
there’s also the advantage of being able to play a fish higher. Usually not essential but if you’ve got a shelf mid water that you need to extract her over then again that extra foot would probably be useful
 
During my match fishing days I fished with many 12 ft and 13 ft heavy feeder rods. That extra foot really makes a difference with accuracy when targeting the far side of any big river like the Trent. Also agree with Richard.

One of the best rods used to to be the Daiwa Amorphous Whisker river. Still got mine and it's still a great rod.

Last season I met someone fishing with a Cadence 13 ft 6 no.4 (really heavy) feeder rod. He let me have a go and, wow, was I impressed? You bet! It is a step up in power from the Amorphous. I ordered one two days ago and it arrived earlier. Can't wait to use it. Know exactly where I'm going!
 
Simon Archer said:
Off on a slight tangent, and back to my match fishing days, one of the best Bream rods around was a Daiwa Amorphous Whisker 11/13 stillwater feeder rod. I've got two of them, but I've never used them at 11'

A 13' Barbel rod for me would feel too long. Horse for courses.
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I still have one of these Diawa Rods, and at 13 foot it was very useful for fishing my local River Ouse as there were many weed beds along the near shelf. So with the extra length you were able to play fish over the weed rather than through it.
 
I totally get it what Most of you say, ref long rods. Perspective wise, lots favour an 11ft on a smaller river, most do fish a 12 on a medium to big river. I hate being undergunned and on the lower tidal Trent, not far from Gainsborough, 90% of 12 footers would be and only a rod like the Chimera4 or the FS 13ft hi s, would suffice.. just my opinion.
 
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